88 THE PROPER DATE OF RIPENING. 
the market is overstocked for a few days, and Bart- 
letts are frequently sold from $6 to $9 per barrel; al. 
though two weeks later, the same variety and quality 
of fruit will bring readily from $16 to $20 per bar- 
rel. Pear growers with a limited amount of capi- 
tal can easily construct a room on top or on one side 
of an ice-house, and keep back a portion of their 
crop. In this way the fruit will soon repay the out- 
lay for the room. As tothe part intended for family 
use:—when the proper date of ripening occurs, 
move such as it is desirable to ripen and place them 
in a warm room. The temperature of this apart- 
ment may be regulated as desired, the higher the 
temperature, the sooner will the fruit ripen. With 
most varieties the slow process gives the best results. 
In the detention house, as well as in the fruit room 
or cellar, the light should be entirely excluded from 
the fruit, for on this precaution depend the color, 
firmness, and in part the flavor. A friend told me a 
few days ago, that he has kept his winter varieties 
with but little trouble in the following manner: 
The pears are carefully gathered from the trees by 
hand, placed in baskets, and taken to his cellar. He 
then packs them in barrels or boxes, with alternate 
layers of dry oat chaff, until the barrel or box is 
filled. The head or cover is put on and left in this 
way for about three weeks, when the pears are care- 
